Whereas the final chapter in The Promise Broken was my longest chapter yet, this is my shortest. My, how things like that work out. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys the new chapter, and I love attention, so please review!

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Chapter 1

She dived behind a scorched and broken slab of concrete that was miraculously still standing, and threw her back up against it, breathing heavily and waving a hand in front of her face to try and clear some air. She pulled some of her jaw-length hair away from her face, and turned to Rogue, who was at her shoulder.

"I can't see a thing," she shouted to her over the din.

Rogue had one hand over her nose and mouth. "I can't smell anything except sulfur," she coughed.

"MOVE!!" she suddenly yelled, pushing Rogue away. Rogue fell forward and rolled instinctively. She turned back and threw her arms up above her, blocking the flaming rubble from falling down on her with an invisible force field. With a grunt, she pushed it off to her right. Once the pressure was gone, she exhaled, breathing heavily just slightly.

"Lex! Rogue! Get over here!" Piotr yelled. Lexiss lifted her head up over the cement wall.

"Where are you?" she yelled into her earpiece, scanning the wrecked ground behind her. There was another explosion somewhere close behind her. Rogue screamed. A flash off to her left caught her eye. "Got it," she said. "Come on, Rogue."

Crouching, she ran forward, Rogue following behind. An explosion close to her feet threw Lexiss over the wall. Piotr caught her, but perhaps landing on the ground might have been less painful. He reverted back to his normal skin as he set her on her feet. She rubbed her arched back.

"Sorry," he said.

"Don't worry about it," she replied.

"Missiles!" Rogue yelled. Piotr put his hand on both of their heads and changed his skin, covering Lexiss' and Rogue's skin as well. The missile landed close to them and exploded, casting stone and steel in every direction. Lexiss closed her eyes, and Piotr pulled his hands away. Her skin turned back to normal, and she shivered.

"I'll never get used to that," she said.

"LEXISS!" Ororo said. Her shout came crackled through her earpiece.

"Bobby!" Rogue gasped, looking in the opposite direction. Lexiss looked down at Piotr as she stood.

"I'll watch her," Piotr said. She nodded, and started running.

"Ororo!" she yelled into her earpiece. "ORORO!!" Her earpiece just cackled. "Logan! Kitty! Anyone!"

Frowning, she pulled her earpiece out of her ear. "Dammit," she swore, throwing it on the ground. It was completely fried. Her force field must have wrecked it. She hadn't thought of that. She remembered Ororo saying they were sensitive. She spun around, looking for someone of her team. She saw no one.

A giant stream of fire came sailing through the air. Lexiss generated a large ball of water in her hands and shot it at up to the fire. Sparks rained down on top of her head.

Wherever that had come from, it wasn't from the burning wreckage. She held water in her hands, and stepped forward cautiously. A hot wind began to blow, and some of the thick, pungent, black smoke began to clear away. Her breath caught in her throat, and she stopped.

"J-John?" she whispered.

It was him. He stood amongst the wrecked buildings and streets, a little taller than she had seen him last, his hair a little longer, but there was no mistaking that it was him.

He smiled a little; actually, it was more like a smirk. Lexiss faintly thought she heard her name being called. She ignored it, and started walking slowly forward. Her arms dropped to her sides; the water fell to the ground with a sizzle and dripped off her fingertips. A single tear ran down her cheek.

"You're back," she said softly. He nodded.

"LEX!!" That was Rogue's voice. She wasn't listening. She was only a few feet away from John now.

Suddenly, his normal expression – the one she remembered – was gone underneath a twisted scowl. A large blast of fire shot up from his lighter into his hand, and then he threw it at Lexiss. She remained paralyzed on the spot, disbelieving.

"LEXISS!!!" Rogue yelled as she went down.

Lexiss knew every visible spot of skin on her body was burnt and blackened, and her red-lined black suit was scorched badly. She gasped, and cried out; her burnt face and neck hurt so much she wanted to never stop screaming.

The feeling almost immediately started to fade, however. Her body started healing itself right away. It was an automatic thing, now. She never had to think about it anymore. Flesh wounds were especially easy.

Lexiss sat up. All the holograms in the Danger Room started to fade away. She watched in horror as John began to disappear as well; he seemed to be made of nothing but blue fiber optics. She sat up, staring at where he – or rather, the hologram - had been standing moments ago. She thought she might throw up.

Rogue ran to her side as she raised a shaky hand to point to where he had been standing. "I know, I saw him," she hushed, holding her face in her gloved hands so she could see if she were hurt.

"Lexiss, are you alright?" Ororo asked, appearing from no where.

Lexiss could sense, Bobby, Kitty, Piotr, and Logan standing behind her. Rogue stepped back, glaring at Storm's back as she did so.

"Lex!" Ororo said urgently. Lexiss started breathing through clenched teeth, her arm and fist shaking. She wanted to punch her pretty little face in. Lexiss knew she had been the one to set the course. She had watched Ororo do it, although apparently not closely enough.

Lexiss stood up, ignoring her and everyone else. She bit the fingertips of her black gloves and pulled them off, throwing them carelessly on the floor as she stormed to the doors. They opened and then slid closed behind her.

Everyone stared wonderingly after her, except Rogue. She stood glaring at Ororo. "How dare you do that to her?" she asked darkly. Ororo's mouth hung open slightly, and then she rushed after Lexiss. Kitty, Bobby, Logan, and Piotr all looked to Rogue for an explanation. The doors closed again.

"She saw John," Rogue said stonily with a pinched expression.

Kitty's jaw dropped, and Bobby's and Piotr's eyebrows shot up. Logan retracted his claws and stomped towards the door. Everyone followed him.

"Lex!" Ororo called, chasing after her. "LEXISS!!" she said, catching up and catching her elbow. Lexiss wrenched it away and whirled on her.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled at her, putting her hands behind her neck. Tears were freely spilling over and down her cheeks.

"Baby," Ororo said comfortingly.

"Shut up, just shut up!" Lexiss screeched, pushing her hands away and backing into a wall. "Get away from me!" she sobbed as the others turned the corner and stopped. She leaned against the wall, crying, shaking, and trying to wipe away all the tears at the same time. Bobby put an arm around Rogue's shoulders. She stiffened just slightly, but didn't pull away.

Ororo's eyes narrowed. "You will not speak to me in that tone of voice," she said. Lexiss ignored her. "Answer me, girl," Ororo said, her voice growing louder.

"Storm…" Logan said warningly. Lexiss stood up, still crying, hands shaking so violently that wiping her tears away was now impossible.

"I hate you," Lexiss whispered to her, voice hoarse. Ororo stepped back, shocked. Good. She wasn't lying. "I HATE YOU!!"

Lexiss, racked by a fresh round of sobs, turned and ran towards the end of the hall, and, taking a page out of Kitty's book, ran through the wall she found there.

Logan stepped up to Ororo's back. "You went too far," he said deeply.

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"Professor," Logan said as he pushed into Professor Xavier's study.

"Yes?" he answered almost immediately. He was seated by the window, gazing out across the yard, and at the students below.

"I need you to find Lex. She ran off during our Danger Room session," Logan replied. Xavier's brows furrowed. "Seems Storm put John into the program and Lex saw him," Logan continued. His voice carried a slightly angry undertone.

"Pyro?" the professor asked. Logan nodded.

"Needless to say, she was a little upset about it. I haven't been able to find her."

Professor Xavier closed his eyes, concentrating. In a few moments, he opened them again. "As far as I can tell, she hasn't left the grounds. She's in the mansion still, somewhere. She's blocking her mind, though. I can't get a proper read on her."

Logan shook his head, turning for the door. "Sometimes I wish you hadn't taught her how to do that," he said over his shoulder as he pulled open the door.

He stopped; Storm, eyes downcast, stood just behind it. "She's probably upstairs in his room," she said quietly. Logan glared down at her slightly and then pushed past her, jarring her shoulder roughly.

When he had passed, she stepped into the doorway. "May I speak to you, Professor?" she asked.

"Of course, Storm. Come in." She stepped into the doorway and closed the door behind her. "Logan says something happened during your Danger Room session today?" Xavier asked. Storm took a seat on the small black leather couch against the right wall.

"Yes," she answered with a heavy sigh. "When I programmed the course, I added a Pyro simulation to the other normal features. I wanted to see how the students would react if they saw it, Lexiss especially, so I didn't tell them about it. As it turns out, Lex was the one who did see it, and if she didn't have healing abilities, she'd probably be dead right now." She sighed. "Her reaction was more than I could have ever expected."

Xavier nodded. "I see," he said. He turned his wheelchair away from the window. "This is indeed a very good idea, Storm, but perhaps you should have told the students about it. Lexiss was very attached to John, and perhaps not being forewarned threw her off. She knows very well John has joined with Magneto, and will most likely be at his side in battle."

Storm nodded. "I see that now," she said. The professor continued.

"I believe she's taken her loss even greater that Scott has taken his, even though she's been able to hide it and pretend to return to semi-normalcy, unlike Scott. Scott had Jean for a very long time, and had that extra time to spend with her. While, for him, that may make Jean's death hard, Lexiss, was with Pyro for only a matter of months, and he chose to leave. They were very much alike, Lexiss, and John, and I suppose John, who became emotionally harder than Lexiss throughout the years, became her pillar of strength, so to speak. Do you understand?"

Storm nodded, and stood up. "Thank you, Professor," she said with a slight, relieved smile.

"Perhaps you should go talk to her," Xavier said, stopping Storm with her hand on the doorknob.

She shook her head, her back to him. "I think I'll leave her. For now, anyway."

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Logan pushed the door open, and stuck his head into the room. He made a sweep of the small bedroom.

It was a complete mess. Clothes were all over the floor, the dresser and night stand were loaded with change, deodorant, shampoo, and papers, and the bed was unmade. He didn't see Lexiss, but his sensitive ears suddenly heard a small sniff from the far side of the room. Pushing the door inward, Logan stepped into the room, and carefully picked his way across the carpet.

He peered over the side of the bed, and saw Lexiss sitting on the floor with her back against the bed, legs bent, a dark red shirt draped over her knees and held in her hands. She was still dressed in her uniform, several holes and partial burns in it.

"Hey kid," he said.

Startled, Lexiss' head snapped around and upwards. Seeing Logan, she quickly looked back down and started wiping her face. It was useless; even if she could stop the slow, steady trickle of tears, her eyes were swollen and her face was red and blotchy.

Logan stepped around the corner of the bed, and sat on the floor next to her. "It's a mess in here," he said, looking around.

"Everything's exactly how he left it," she sniffed, glancing at Logan. She lifted the shirt in her lap. "Well, everything except this," she added. She smiled a little pathetically, and laughed thickly. "It still smells like him." She looked back down at the shirt.

"You know," she finally said, "most of me knew that it wasn't really him. That it was just a simulation. But… I just really wanted to believe that he had come back."

Logan looked at her. "You really miss him, don't you?" he asked.

Lexiss didn't answer right away. She picked at a loose string at the collar, fiddled with the sleeve. When she finally did answer, she broke down, crying into her knees and John's shirt.

"Yes!" she cried loudly, sobbing brokenly. She felt Logan put his arm around her and pull her into his shoulder in a comforting way, resting his chin on the top of her head. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he allowed her to cry into his shirt. He didn't say anything, and neither did she, but she was reassured all the same.

She stayed that way for a little while, until she finally ran out of tears and sat up, sniffing and wiping her eyes some more. "You goin' to be OK, kid?" Logan asked.

She nodded. "I think so," she said.

Logan pointed to the holes in her suit as he helped her to her feet. She carefully put John's burgundy shirt back in the pile she had found it in. "What're you going to do about that? I hear Storm's pretty good with a needle and thread," he said.

Lexiss gave him a resentful look. "I'll take it to Lizzie; she can generate any kind of material. Or I could do it myself. I don't need Storm to do anything for me," she said, walking past him.

"Since when do you call her Storm?" Logan asked himself, following her out of the room and closing the door.

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Lexiss stared at her reflection in the mirror. She had come to her own room, changed into sneakers, jeans, a tank top, and her favorite black zippered hoodie. She slowly smoothed back her hair, taking long, calming breaths.

In the mirror, she could see the reflected image of her burnt suit stretched across her bed. Rubbing her face with her hands, she turned and walked to her bed. With a sigh, she sat, and took her suit in her hands. Finding every hole or scorch mark and mending it took about fifteen minutes. When she was finished, she pushed the suit to the end of her bed, and then laid with her head on her pillow and curled up on her side, facing her nightstand.

She studied the pictures standing there. There was a formal picture of Bobby and Rogue there, Bobby in a tux and red tie and Rogue in a long-sleeved black dress with her hair done up with a scattering of red beads. Lexiss had done that for her, she remembered. There was another of her and Rogue playing together on one of the tire swings behind the mansion during the fall, after Logan had left. The biggest framed photo was of her sister, Trisha.

Lexiss reached for a fourth frame, however, one that had been set facedown and turned away. That's the one she picked up. Rolling onto her back, she held the picture above her face. It used to be one of her favorites. She didn't know how she felt about it anymore.

It was of Lexiss and John, in one of the few pictures she had of him. In the photo, John was carrying her on his back down the main staircase to the ground floor of the mansion. His arms were back around her knees, and hers were around his neck. They were both laughing.

There was a knock at her door, causing her to jump slightly. She quickly placed the photo back in its original position on her nightstand, and said, "Come in," in a rather calm voice.

It was Rogue who poked her head into her room. "Hey," she said quietly, coming in and closing the door behind her. "How're you doing?"

Lexiss groaned, putting her arms over her face. "I'm not exactly having the best day, here," she replied.

"Mmm."

Lexiss lifted her elbow to look at her. "What about you? You alright?" she asked.

Rogue sighed. "I saw… I thought I saw," she corrected, "Bobby and Kitty…" She shook her head and smiled nervously. "I'm imagining things, right?" Lexiss sat up, and rested a hand on Rogue's covered shoulder.

"You're imagining things," she said. "Bobby's been in love with you since Day One."

With a moan, Rogue flopped backward so her head was hanging off the side of the bed. "But… he can touch her," she said. Lexiss frowned.

"Hey-"

She was cut off by three knocks at her bedroom door. It opened, and this time Bobby stuck his head inside. "Hi," he said to Lexiss. She waved a little.

Bobby looked at Rogue. "Can we talk?"

Rogue sat up and got off Lexiss' bed. "I'll see you later, alright?"

She nodded, and Rogue left. Lexiss fell back onto her bed, and took up the picture again.

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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!